Irish lobby group wants action on broadband
08 March 2006
A lobby group has made a submission to Ireland's communications authorities calling for a government directive to remedy the country's ongoing decline in broadband adoption.
In a response to a public consultation by the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources (DCMNR), the group, IrelandOffline threw scorn at the number of lines that remain unbundled in Ireland compared with the European average. Ireland is second last for broadband penetration in the EU and, according to Forfas - the national policy advisory board for enterprise, trade and industry - has dropped a place in the OECD rankings for broadband.
IrelandOffline's submission to the DCMNR argues: "The regulator's attitude towards LLU needs to be seriously questioned. It has failed year-on-year to make anything that could be considered progress. "Its decisions on processes and pricing mean that other licensed operators (OLOs) have some of the highest costs to unbundle lines and the processes are so complex that it harms anyone that wants to get a quality, disruption-free changeover. Five years later and a consumer cannot move to an LLU service without losing their phone number and experiencing downtime on phone and internet."
IrelandOffline says that "the lack of LLU is damaging the economy".
The lobby group has requested a Government directive to the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) to ensure Ireland achieves the EU's average rate of LLU lines. It also argues that ComReg should report publicly its progress and, like other European countries, do so every quarter.
A spokesman at Comreg told Telecoms.com on Tuesday: "We don't comment on anything IrelandOffline has to say."
Full story to follow
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